Impressions and Photos- Portugal, France and Spain Part 2
Room in Lisbon- One of the first impressions of Portugal is the Mediterranean light.
Thick stone walls keep rooms cool in the summer heat. The remnants of a Jewish quarter detectable only in a street sign.
In Evora, once the scene of a thriving Jewish community, the office of the Inquisitors is marked by these symbols of the Inquisition above the door.
The figure of Regina Santa Isabela captured my heart six years ago, and still moves me. She miraculously turned bread to roses, fed the poor, and brokered peace between her warring husband and son. The best thing about Estramoza.
Door shapes and subtle symbols marked the home of secret or crypto-Jews.
The Jewish quarter and castle gardens right above might have been the home and daily working place of my ancestors in Abrantes!
The food and the flowers!
The bittersweet understanding that the survival of Jews on the Iberian Peninsula seems distressingly dependent on tourism –synagogues in Belmonte, Tomar, museum in Trancoso.
Irouleguy, France, home of the amazing poet Mimi Zollars and Pascal Sapparrart and the Aquitaine country through which many Jews traveled en route to northern Europe.
The Basque Country – Macanet de Cabrenys, Figueres- Catalan northern Spain, into southern France, Besalu & Girona
